The Modernize the Truck Fleet (MTF) coalition rallied in Washington, D.C., last week to urge Congress to support two bipartisan House bills that would repeal the 12 percent federal excise tax (FET) on the sale of heavy-duty commercial trucks and trailers.
MTF met with members of Congress, asking them to repeal the FET and replace it with an alternative source of revenue that reflects today’s modern truck fleet. Repeal would encourage the deployment of the newest trucks and trailers, MTF said.
“The FET was first enacted to help pay for World War I,” Jodie Teuton, of the American Truck Dealers (ATD) chairwoman, said. “This tax may have made sense in 1917, but today the FET delays heavy-duty truck fleet turnover by adding more than $20,000 to the average price of a new truck.”
The average age of a heavy-duty truck is nearly 10 years old, U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) said.
MTF launched in January. Its members include trade association executives, trucking industry stakeholders and commercial truck dealers such as ATD, the National Tank Truck Carriers Association, the Association for the Work Truck Industry, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, the National Trailer Dealers Association and the Truck Renting and Leasing Association.